ArcherDX has signed on to a new multiyear partnership with DNA sequencing giant Illumina to help broaden the use of its cancer tests and companion diagnostics in the U.S. and internationally.
The deal includes a co-marketing agreement that will help promote the Archer FusionPlex line of research products outside the U.S. and expands the companies’ previous work in developing in vitro diagnostics to run on Illumina’s NextSeq 550Dx and MiSeqDx systems.
It also sets up a co-marketing plan for ArcherDX’s upcoming pan-solid tumor Stratafide genomic companion diagnostic, pending FDA approval, for use in guiding cancer treatments and monitoring effectiveness and recurrence.
"Creating broad access to clinically relevant genomic information is core to our company's mission, and we expect this commercial partnership with Illumina will accelerate that process," ArcherDX CEO Jason Myers said in a statement. "Illumina's NGS instruments are ubiquitous in thousands of clinical and research settings due to their accuracy, speed and user experience.”
The ultimate goal of the nonexclusive pact is to spread out ArcherDX’s in vitro diagnostic kits and accompanying software platforms among different clinical laboratories, cancer centers and hospitals.
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“The resulting shift away from a handful of centralized sequencing labs to more decentralized testing benefits patients through faster results, more competitive pricing and access to world-class cancer care delivered locally,” Myers added. “It also allows hospitals and local labs to benefit as they can garner a growing share of the cancer diagnostics and monitoring market."
Stratafide aims to identify actionable genomic alterations in tumors from either tissue or blood samples and link them with investigational or approved cancer therapies. The test received a breakthrough device designation from the FDA in 2019 and is designed to be used in any lab with an Illumina sequencer. Following its FDA approval, ArcherDX also plans to submit its personalized cancer monitoring platform, aimed at tracking disease recurrence.
"Since our initial partnership in 2016, we have remained aligned with ArcherDX via our shared mission to bring actionable genomic insights closer to patients," said Illumina’s chief medical officer, Phil Febbo. "We are pleased to take this next step in our commercial partnership to support expanding access to leading-edge genomic cancer management to more patients, in more communities, to improve patient outcomes."